To improve your lifestyle, start by tracking your savings and spending, choosing your priorities wisely, setting an emergency fund, self-investing, avoiding panic decisions, and avoiding extra responsibilities.
Improving your lifestyle may seem like an impossibly lofty goal, but there are many small changes you can make to improve your happiness and well-being. Choose a goal that is the best fit for you and take action to make it happen. Here are 21 tactics from the American Psychological Association (APA) to help you approach time, relationships, mental health, and passion projects with more confidence and efficiency this year.
Eliminate clutter by taking a look around every room in your home and asking yourself questions. A plan that will stick is essential for making lasting, positive lifestyle and behavior changes. Downgrading can be a brilliant way to free up some assets, especially when trying to develop habits like working out regularly or writing daily.
Letting yourself have a little leeway is the way to make a habit stick. In one of Milkman’s studies, she and Dr. Susan Kahn share her guide on how to reinvent yourself, whatever your age.
To change your life for the better, find ways to cut that doesn’t matter to you so much, substitute better quality activities for the things you cut, and make your hobbies pay you (or at least for themselves). Set a goal and work towards it, de-clutter, and live the life with zest.
Try gratitude journaling to focus on the abundance in your life rather than what you feel you lack. Do some reading or learning ( ).
Mental consumption is the way to go, and downgrading can be a highly effective way to increase your wealth, happiness, and overall well-being.
📹 Don’t downgrade your lifestyle to save faster. Do THIS instead…
I did not “downgrade” my lifestyle in my journey of overcoming my shopping addiction and achieving my first million pesos. Let me …
How to do a life reset?
To reset your life, consider imagining your future, determining your core values, defining priorities, setting specific goals, compiling milestones into a monthly reset list, pushing yourself out of your comfort zone, clearing your mind, and reassessing your social circle. Resetting your life doesn’t require tossing everything out and starting over. Instead, assess bad habits or areas that need realignment with your values.
The changes could be big or small, but by stepping back and looking for meaning in life in a way that works for you, you can enhance your emotional balance and sense of well-being. This process can be done at any stage of life, making it a valuable tool for personal growth and personal growth.
How to change your lifestyle?
The eight lifestyle changes include regular exercise, standing more, reducing sugar intake, incorporating fruits and vegetables, drinking more water, getting more sleep, limiting screen time, and socializing more or engaging in a new hobby.
How long does it take to change your lifestyle?
The 21/90 rule, a popular self-help concept, suggests that it takes 21 days to create a healthy habit and 90 days for it to become a permanent lifestyle change. This rule, initially presented by plastic surgeon Maxwell Maltz in the 1960s, was based on anecdotal evidence and was not rigorously studied. However, there is little evidence to support the claim that there is a magic number of days to form a habit or make a lifestyle change.
Many people who follow the rule may give up if they don’t see immediate results. Despite this, the science does offer insight into factors that may contribute to a healthy habit becoming a permanent lifestyle change.
What is the 90 10 rule in life?
Stephen Covey’s 90/10 principle states that 90% of life is determined by our reactions, while 10% is influenced by our actions. We have no control over 10% of our lives, such as car breakdowns or traffic delays. However, 90% of our lives are determined by our reactions, and we can influence the other 90% through our actions. This principle highlights the importance of understanding and adapting to our surroundings to ensure a fulfilling and fulfilling life.
How do I reprogram my life?
To make changes in your life, start with reflection, examine your value system, revisit and rewrite goals, and commit to change. Consider seeking a coach, building a support network, and checking in on yourself. Life comes in seasons, and everyone goes through transitions. Big milestones like marriage, divorce, moving, committing to a partner, buying a home, starting a family, or becoming empty-nesters can trigger change. Other triggers may include the loss of a loved one, a global crisis, or a traumatic experience. Embrace the process and stay committed to your goals to make the necessary changes.
How do I reset my life?
To reset your life, consider imagining your future, determining your core values, defining priorities, setting specific goals, compiling milestones into a monthly reset list, pushing yourself out of your comfort zone, clearing your mind, and reassessing your social circle. Resetting your life doesn’t require tossing everything out and starting over. Instead, assess bad habits or areas that need realignment with your values.
The changes could be big or small, but by stepping back and looking for meaning in life in a way that works for you, you can enhance your emotional balance and sense of well-being. This process can be done at any stage of life, making it a valuable tool for personal growth and personal growth.
What is the 21 day rule?
The notion that 21 days is the time it takes to form a new habit originated from Maxwell Maltz’s book “Psycho-Cybernetics”, which he observed patients took to adjust to new physical features. However, research has shown that this is a myth. A study published in the European Journal of Social Psychology found that it takes an average of 66 days for a new behavior to become a habit. Additionally, a study published in the Journal of Behavioral Medicine found that it takes an average of 18 days for a new behavior to become automatic. The time it takes to form a new habit can vary greatly depending on the behavior and individual.
What is the 3 week rule?
The “three-week breakup rule” posits that a three-week interval of abstention from communication or contact with an ex-partner is conducive to facilitating the healing and perspective-gaining processes in both parties, thereby enabling a potential reevaluation of the relationship.
How to start life again from zero?
To effect change in one’s life, it is essential to engage in reflection on past experiences, cultivate mindfulness, identify goals, ascertain what is working and what is in need of improvement, explore new possibilities, recognize progress, and seek guidance from a life coach.
📹 How To Simplify Your Life
What many of us long for more than anything else is a simpler life; we feel overwhelmed by our responsibilities, schedules, …
when i was younger, i imagined a life with the “big dogs”, going from city to city on business, having a large house and a night life. Now after all the “noise”, both at work and at home, all i want is a debt free life, a safe small home, a healthy diet and lifestyle, a non-toxic inner circle, and everything within walking distance. i just want to see the sun shine.
It’s funny when you consider these things: Some people tell to strive in life, others say to stay calm. Some people tell to control/ reduce sleep, others say to increase it. Some people tell to earn more money, others say to stay low because money cant buy happiness. Some people tell to be more social, others say to be less. Some people tell to try to understand the philosophies of life, others say to ignore philosophies. The truth is, you gotta live your life as it pleases you. The standards given by people will always keep you at unrest mode.
As a freelancer, I’ve realized over the years that I have fallen into the “if you’re not hustling, you’re worthless” mindset and therefore the idea of a “simple” life feels like a colossal failure. Thank you for putting a different spin on it, detailing what that actually entails, and offering this very healthy perspective. I think it will help me a lot going forward as I try to “deprogram” myself.
The mind needs rest…I lock myself up in my room without books, without phone, without music. I just sit, close my eyes, and I rest. Some people call it meditation. I just call it rest, or restfullness. The more I do it, the more I notice my ‘system’ desires peace, silence… nothingness. It’s a wonderful feeling, to just be able to sit and come to a certain peace of mind. I Just observe my thoughts and emotions without trying to push them away. They are there, floating around, but they don’t bother me so much because I am in ‘rest-mode’. I try to do this every day 10 minutes. And I must say it changed my life for the better.
Thank you. I think a lot of high schoolers can relate. We’re all so tired from school work and extra curriculars that the way we spend our free time is mostly through passive entertainment–watching articles and TV for hours, instead of giving our mind rest. That makes us sleep deprived and even more tired the next day, fueling the dangerous cycle of overstimulation and fatigue. Mental health should be a priority for all students.
Watching these articles feels like a treat. It’s a kind and wise reminder that my well-being is worth more than the responsibilities and problems that the world throws on us on a daily basis. Your voice often feels like it’s drowned out by so many other things around us, but when we really listen: you are there. Thank you.
finding that sweet balance between active and passive growth might have been the most rewarding thing I’ve tried to achieve in my life so far. what a great feeling not to be afraid of those thoughts at 3am and not to wake up anxious because I fear I’m running out of time for all the tasks of the week. I might lose it sometimes, but there’s always a way back, we just all have to figure out which way brings us there for ourselves
After perusal this article, I finally am able to recognize that my body has been telling me all this time, and my mind too, “stop trying to live a busy life!” “Don’t stress over things you can’t control!” I needed this advice, thank you, School Of Life, for all of this extremely valuable advice for free.
Although I’m a teenager girl at the age of 17, I feel comfortable thinking that I want two friends who are loyal to me all my life, a small house with large windows by the sea with a husband and children and a healthy eating pattern, thinking about this makes me feel very happy … simpler Dreams are the most beautiful. Update I changed my mind about where I want to live in the future, I prefer to live in the country now, is there anything more beautiful than calm and sunrise? Go back to my comment every year, my opinion may change again
Could you please do a piece on “when delayed gratification becomes denied gratification”? My parents (like many others’) were constantly saying “you haven’t earnt it yet”, “you don’t deserve it” and “you haven’t worked hard enough”. I think it’s the reason so many people are workaholics and why I never feel happy with what I’ve done. It’s never enough
I’m on vacations right now. The day before it I had a mental breakdown in the office. My life had been so far filled with dealing with many struggles and problems in my family, and with those more or less solved the stress and anxiety started catching up on me. My boss became much more demanding in order to leave someone doing the most critical on my job (such is the nature of Accounting) and recently I had been rejected by my crush. Facing the fact I have made the same mistakes over and over, and realize how everyone around me is moving on with their lives while I feel stuck in mine, and how I’ve been so for years… that’s what ultimately had me. Now that I away from all of that, this article feels like a Godsend. This is just the thing I needed to see today. Really appreciate what you guys at SoL do with your articles.
So incredibly helpful 🙂 being 20 years old its so easy to feel confused and lost in life, it’ll easily seep into your work and social lives. Ive detached from parts of myself and lost loved ones because of disorder and carelessness. This article really puts into perspective that life deserves its rest and there HAS to be a balance to the complexities of the day to day. Thank you so much
Segmenting your week also works miracles – like having one day for meetings, one day for study, one day for doing absolutely nothing (or whatever you would like to do at the moment). It’s like de-fragmenting an old hard drive – instead of having everything mashed up all over the place, you go through life in clean segments, saving lots energy otherwise spent on context switching.
I just needed this. I am currently in a conference with a lot of my old colleagues celebrating their achievements although I know they hate their lives. And I am leading a much simpler rewarding life full of friendship and support, yet without academic achievement. Somehow I felt guilty. But this article encouraged me to maintain my path.
🎯 Key Takeaways for quick navigation: 00:04 🍼 Our brains need rest and simplicity, just like babies do after intense experiences. 01:24 😰 Anxiety often results from continuous overstimulation; we must take care to keep things calm and simple. 02:17 🕰️ To avoid feeling overwhelmed, we should limit commitments and ensure we have enough time for ourselves. 03:11 📱 Excessive exposure to news and media can negatively impact mental health; moderation is crucial. 04:36 💭 Taking time to consciously reflect on our thoughts can help alleviate insomnia and anxiety. Made with HARPA AI
But what would the world be without those crazy ambitious, self absorbed, hypermaniac, ego driven individuals? Would we have the advances we have today? Absolutely not. The cost of progress is sanity. Otherwise we would still be unconscious hominids living peacefully in the comforts of our caves. Progress can sometimes be meaningless if it only got us smartphones, but if it allows us to someday Trully understand the deepest secrets of ourselves and universe, it would have been a worthwhile sacrifice of our sanity.
you know, I was really hoping I could relate to this article, but I just can’t. I’m not too busy, I barely keep up with the news, I do nothing all day and I’m still stressed and burnt out. so in the end, I’m no steps closer to fixing my life. but at least I can understand other people going through this a little better.
I deleted all people from my life 8 August 2000. Those I believed to be my girlfriend and friends were just users, backstabbers, and the enemies in disguise. After the deletion, life became incredibly easier. I have been living socially isolated since the deletion of everybody in my life those many years ago. It is far easier and way less emotionally painful to have nobody in my life than to be a social person. I recommend this lifestyle of social isolation to anybody that would want to simply their life and avoid emotional pain. There are far worse things than loneliness.
In my opinion this is the best article representation (of the chosen concept) I have seen so far from School of Life. It sticks to topic without being boring or obvious, and stimulates just enough further thought that you’re still about to follow the ideas being talked about. Well done to whoever made it!
What about the other side of it though? I find joy in giving it all to get as far as I can in life, and while it does exaust me, sometimes deprive me of a bit of sleep and so on, I still find it worth it. Even when i sleep little due to all of that I still find that time to have been glorious, if I had a slower, less productive day I don’t find that it’s the same. Ofc everybody is different, but all i’m saying is that maybe not all of us were made to lead a chill, less hectic and easier life, and I don’t think theres anything wrong with enjoying the “grind” either, it gives me purpose.
What’s happening in the world DOES concern us no matter how far away we are. Choosing not to know about what other people go through is willful ignorance. We need to know so that can pray for them, or even help them if we can. Also to appreciate the privileges that we’re given. It can be stressful tho, so it’s important to be moderate.
Love the critique of how “the news” is doing our heads in. Previously I was a bit of a news addict. In recent years I have gradually weaned myself off the news. It’s been one of the best decisions and actions I have ever taken in life. And it made me realise just how much frustration and anger I was carrying about things/issues I have absolutely no control over. Turn off the news, and just let your mind slow down and be present in your actual life.
I admire the wisdom of these articles greatly, and on the whole, as always, I agree. But for a textbook extrovert like me, more people, more experiences and more commitments can be the road to happiness. I just walk around the park from time to time or sit in trains for six hours and mentally process my life. Then I go back to running around it at a crazy pace and enjoy every minute of it. I had one burnout and it made me immune for the rest of my life. What matters is to realize how many things don’t matter, and what actually does.
as beautiful as the illustrations for this article were, i found them quite ironic in relation to the topic. so, so overstimulating with all these flashing lights and constants visual changes with every single sentence. had to close my eyes to finish the article. i understand that this is the trend to keep people’s attention these days, but, again, a little ironic if we are taking simplifying.
Thank you for your hard work. I’m so happy to find your website. There always something great and something to be grateful about. Today I’m grateful for you and your staff who make it possible for us to learn so much. We need more content on Simplicity. It’s one of the most important topic for a person out there to learn and to lead a live according to it. 💯
I kinda disagree with the part saying we should know less because the misfortunes taking place in other parts of the world don’t affect as.. Knowing less is the main cause of prejudice, hate crimes and wars. And actually all events affect us, that’s why we need to know more and understand the reasons behind each event. We are all influnecer in a way, in determing the policies of our goverments or the idiology of our children… And in a better world, such an understanding may lead to stoping these misfortunes..
I’m currently 15. And I fully accept this 2 weeks ago I decided to get a schedule and do the things I want to do in a favor to make my fear of not being successful go away. and some days I get a lot of stuff done and sometimes not getting anything done. Even if I don’t physically don’t go do it, the thoughts of all the things I need to do just makes me crumble and get tired. That’s why I stopped doing my favourite thing wich was playing game. I lowered the time for it a lot lower. But then I was bored so I started to play again but then I have no energy for the things I want to do and feel I have destroyed my chances by not doing anything on that day. So yeah try to keep it simple. So don’t over work yourself and turn off the fake lives and the entrepreneurial mindset . Cause at the end the only thing that matters is if you enjoyed it. And sorry for the bad English, it’s not my first language, and I hope this helps someone in a way but this is a part of me, and it would hella long to state all the stuff
I strongly disagree with the statement: “who ever does not have 2/3rds of his day free, is a slave” what about a nurse that works 12 hours a day? Is she a slave? No. Hero. What about a person who runs a business, which employs 100 people, which feeds/clothes 200-300 kids. Would you call that person a slave or a hero? Whats everyones problem with working hard these days? I think you’re a slave if you spend your precious time on your self rather than helping others
It is interesting how I unconsciously did most of the things told in the article! I think I developed some kind of defense mechanism against complexities and my brain just immediately simplifies every task. One of the things that makes me live simple life is prioritizing time spent by myself and setting borders.
People worked hard in their peaceful times and strived hard and achieved stress. People worked hard and earned money but also several health problems which happened during the process of making more money. People are still working hard to achieve something which nobody has told them but just out of comparison with friends. And finally turned out voluntarily into slave of themselves. IRONIC 🙄
You’ve got just one life…we never know what we’ll be in the after life or even don’t know abt it’s existence🙂..live it large or small, it’s all your choice..do whatever you want to..speak whatever comes in your mind, unless it hurts another soul🌺..try to explore the world before it is too late..throw that shit- your fears, worries, petty issues..outta your brain, you are a universe in the estatic motion; remember that.🌟 God bless all!❤️
Growing up in Ireland, and living near a school. It was a hectic place to live. Where cars drove at break nect speed, to and back from school. I had many lucky escape as a result young mothers racing against the clock to pick up their kiddies. Then they would do a u-turn for home to put the dinner on to advoid any complaints from their husband that their dinner wasn’t ready in time. It was only when my mother reminder us of what a hectic life mothers, had to put up with. But my late mother was as calm as a warm breeze.
This is so beautiful, I’ve always been a somewhat lazy person and often beat myself up about not trying hard enough or accomplishing enough but it’s really just that I have my priorities straight and society makes me forget that sometimes, but you can cheat happiness, you either are or aren’t, and fuck what anybody else says, the people telling you to do more are miserable slaves to their own false perceptions of reality created by a greedy world who want your time and money
EVERY, EVERY, EVERY WORD IS SO TRUE, in this article!!! And just what I needed to hear today. Thank you Alain and company again….hope to see more new articles in the future. I’ve seen them all at least two to three times, and more. However, they are always applicable throughout living our lives, so going back to this one today, took a real load off….🙏💟🙏
This ideal person you pop philosophy people you are describing sounds so complacent and uninteresting. “Why be awake when you can have a nap?” “Why inform yourself when you can be more ignorant?” “Why know many when you can know few?” “Why search for true meaning and happiness when I can consume pop philosophy?”
“No Plants, No Pets, No Children” -my college 3D Design teacher lol – As a “free” person, the only downside to living this way is the projection of others ( jealousy) that we don’t have a bunch of stupid shit to do all the time. I don’t understand why people fill their lives with so much property and people, in a word: upkeep. If you can withstand the slings of judgment from those who insist you fill your life with stress, it’s so worth it to have very few possessions and commitments. Learn to say “Let me think about it.” Earn your daily bread, try to save, make stuff, read books, cook, enjoy each moment. When you consider that every experience in life gets processed through the brain, you can downsize the material stuff and learn to enjoy the “life of the mind,” which is FREE.
I like this episode to SOL because I can apply his fundaments expressed in this even to someone whose passed. I find that death in a family can clutter up your life with all of these responsible tasks we have to do when someone dies but we neither have the will or strength to go. I also watch Psych2go here on youtube which is also helpful…but keeping emotionally active with simple actions that help nature our will is what this episode helps me realize. I’m so glad I tuned in time. The title was just calling me to come to it.
This article says do less and be more satisfied with yourself for looking after your well being rather than maxing out on everything that’s available. The quote on being a slave unless 2/3rds of your time is your own to do with as you please hit home. I’ve sold a big home where I had Airbnb guests/lodgers and don’t do that anymore (or the constant housework). Much more relaxing and more attractive to invite a partner into my home to live just with me. Also the pandemic meant some of my yoga classes closed and I’ve not restarted them. Downsizing means I’ve got enough without having to work as many hours.